


Road to the Start

by penguin97



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:45:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8182462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penguin97/pseuds/penguin97
Summary: The title sucks, I know.
So this is like the prequel to my other fic 'The Talk'. I had considered writing something like this right after I posted that, but didn't know if anyone would be interested because there wasn't much interest on the other fic it seemed. But then someone asked for a backstory fic and here we are like two weeks later haha. 
So some real events are mentioned in this fic, but I think the timeline of when they took place is off, so I apologize for that. Let's just ignore that since this is fiction and not something that actually happened.
Last note: This is from Kelley's POV. I figured it'd be easier to write if it was from one POV. The formatting of the story probably sucks, but it's what I went with.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title sucks, I know.
> 
> So this is like the prequel to my other fic 'The Talk'. I had considered writing something like this right after I posted that, but didn't know if anyone would be interested because there wasn't much interest on the other fic it seemed. But then someone asked for a backstory fic and here we are like two weeks later haha. 
> 
> So some real events are mentioned in this fic, but I think the timeline of when they took place is off, so I apologize for that. Let's just ignore that since this is fiction and not something that actually happened.
> 
> Last note: This is from Kelley's POV. I figured it'd be easier to write if it was from one POV. The formatting of the story probably sucks, but it's what I went with.

_ London 2012 - Olympic Semifinal - USA vs Canada _

_ “OH IT’S IN! ALEX MORGAN HAS DONE IT! BARELY THIRTY SECONDS TO GO! 4-3 TO THE UNITED STATES!’ _

As some of the team celebrated Alex’s last second goal, Kelley and Tobin fell to the ground in a hug of their own.

“We’re going to the final!” the defender exclaimed.

“We’re going to the final!” Tobin repeated, not quite believing what she just saw. 

“Alex did it! We’re going to the final!” 

Kelley smiled widely. “Come on! We can’t let them have all the fun!” she yelled excitedly, pulling the midfielder to a standing position. The two ran over to where the rest of the team was celebrating, Alex still in the middle of the huddle. 

They pushed through the group of teammates and both wrapped the forward in a joint hug.

“Baby horse that was amazing!” Kelley shouted over their teammates. 

“Yeah, Alex, that was the coolest header I’ve ever seen!” Tobin added.

The younger player smiled at the two. “Thanks guys, but it was nothing, really. It’s HAO you should be thanking. Did you see that cross? It was fantastic!” she deflected.

“Dude, we’re going to the final because of you!” Kelley exclaimed, grabbing the forward’s arms and shaking her slightly. 

“Okay, okay, it was a pretty sick goal,” Alex conceded. 

“Come on, Lex, let’s go celebrate!” Tobin yelled, wrapping her arm around Alex’s neck and walking to where the team had gathered in the center of the field.

A weird feeling suddenly overcame Kelley, but it wasn’t one of jealousy. Abandonment? Loneliness, maybe? 

A pair of arms suddenly grabbed her from behind. 

“You okay?” Hope asked, one brow raised in question.

The defender nodded, pushing down the weird feeling. “Yeah. I just can’t believe we’re going to the final!” she shouted.

The keeper grinned. “Hell yeah we are!” she agreed. “Alex’s goal was amazing! I was worried we would have to go to penalties.”

“But we’re going to the final!” Kelley repeated. “We’re gonna get that gold medal, I can feel it,” she stated seriously. She looked over to where Tobin and Alex were talking and hugging with teammates, and her smile turned into a slight frown.

“Yeah we are,” Hope replied. The keeper followed Kelley’s gaze, spotting the midfielder and forward. “Come on, let’s go join the team,” she suggested, pulling the defender with her towards the group. 

Hope wasn’t sure what was going on with the trio, but she figured keeping Kelley distracted would be for the best right now.

* * *

 

_ London 2012 - Olympic Final - USA vs Japan _

They won.

Carli scores two goals, and it’s over.

2-1 and the US wins their fourth Olympic gold and redemption from the World Cup.

Kelley runs to join Tobin and Alex in celebrating, but notices the two in an emotional embrace. That weird feeling from after the semi-final makes it way through her again, and she brushes it off, running to celebrate with Hope instead.

“We did it!” the defender shouts ecstatically, latching on to the keeper tightly.

Hope looks down at the shorter woman, a massive and bright smile on her face. “We did it!” she repeated. “We won!”

“You did amazing!” Kelley states. 

“So did you!” Hope returns. “Kel, you played amazing throughout this whole tournament. I wouldn’t have wanted anybody on my backline,” she said seriously.

“Well yeah. I had the best teacher to help me,” the defender joked, sending a wink to the keeper. 

Hope laughed. “I’m sure you did,” she agreed. “Now come on! Let’s go get our medals!”

The two ran over to where the team was gathered getting t-shirts and American flags. Hope walked over to celebrate with Carli as Kelley moved over to where Alex and Tobin were.

Jumping onto the midfielder’s back, Kelley exclaimed, “We won! We did it!”

Tobin groaned at the sudden weight. “Yeah we won! Now get off me you oaf.” She threw the defender back to the ground.

Alex laughed, wrapping the pouting defender in a hug. “Come on, Kel, cheer up! We won!” she shouted. “We won our first Olympic medals!”

“Excuse, I have two now!” Tobin countered, feigning offense.

Kelley stuck her tongue out. “That’s because you’re old and played in the last Olympics,” she teased.

“Dude, we’re like the same age,” the midfielder argued.

“You sure about that?” Lauren asked, coming up to the three with Amy following behind her.

“We thought she was five,” the blonde forward added.

Kelley gasped in mock offense. “Rude,” she said as the other players laughed.

The defender couldn’t help smiling at seeing both Tobin and Alex laughing and celebrating, and felt that odd feeling rise up again. She pushed the thought back and excused herself to go hug and congratulate other teammates.

Later on after the medal ceremony, the team made their way to a club. Kelley spent most of her time with Alex, Tobin, Sydney, and Megan on the dancefloor, drinking and making complete fools of themselves with terrible dance moves.

Eventually, around one a.m., the defender noticed the forward and midfielder make their way out the club together. Again, a feeling of abandonment or loneliness took her over, and she went to the bar to distract herself.

“How’re you doing, Kelley?” Hope asked, walking up and taking a seat next to the defender. 

“I feel like I can go all night,” Kelley replied, giving her drink request to the bartender.

“How does it feel being an Olympic medalist?”

Kelley grabbed the medal that was hanging around her neck, looking at it for what was probably the thousandth time. “Amazing,” she answered, taking a sip from the beer the bartender brought her.

“You earned it,” Hope stated matter-of-factly. 

“And how does it feel to be a two-time Olympic gold medalist?” 

“Amazing.”

“I bet,” Kelley agreed. “You earned it, too,” she said.

“Want to ditch these guys and go celebrate elsewhere?”

“What do you have in mind?” Kelley asked, taking a long sip from her beer.

The keeper smirked. “Let’s go back to the hotel and I’ll show you.”

Forgetting about Alex and Tobin, Kelley nodded, quickly downing the last of her drink and followed Hope out of the bar.

* * *

 

_ 2013 - January, the night after Hope’s wedding _

A loud knock on her hotel door woke Kelley up from a pitiful sleep. Walking to the door, she sighed when she saw the keeper on the other side through the peephole.

“What do you want, Hope?” she asked as she opened the door. 

“I should be asking you that,” the keeper retorted, walking into the room as Kelley shut the door. “Why are you here?”

“I’d be a shitty friend if I wasn’t,” the defender answered shortly.

Hope snorted. “No worse than the rest of the team,” she muttered. Sighing, she said quietly, “No worse than me.”

“So you admit that what you did was shitty?” the younger woman questioned. “Sleeping with me after the final, then just dropping off the face of the earth after we get back? Only to find out you’re getting married?” she pushed, anger lining her voice.

“I never said it was going to be anything more than what it was,” Hope argued back, shaking her head.

“No, but it could have!” Kelley fired back. “It could have been more if you hadn’t gone completely radio silent,” she argued, tears forming in her eyes.

Hope sighed, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think it could have,” she said gently.

“You don’t know that!” the defender shouted.

“You’re right,” Hope placated. “You’re right, maybe it could have. Maybe we could have been more. But it wouldn’t have lasted,” she stated.

Kelley scoffed. “How do you know that? You didn’t even give us a chance!”

“Because I saw the way you looked at Tobin and Alex,” Hope responded softly.

Kelley took a step back, brows furrowing in confusion. “What?” she asked in shock.

“I saw the way you looked at Tobin and Alex,” the keeper repeated. “Kelley, any moment you weren’t with me you were with those two. And the look you gave them after the semifinal? You wanted to be with them, you couldn’t have fooled me if you tried,” she explained gently, moving to wrap the smaller woman in her arms.

Kelley hung her head, tears flowing freely now. “I think I love them,” she admitted through a sob. “Whenever they went somewhere on their own, I got this weird feeling, like I was being left alone,” she explained, sobbing. “It’s just, whenever I was with you, I didn’t have to think about it,” she continued.

“So us sleeping together was a distraction for you?” Hope questioned, no malice or hurt in her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Kelley cried, ashamed. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry for how I treated you after we got back,” the keeper explained. She moved so she was sitting against one of the beds, pulling the defender into her lap. 

She let Kelley cry her emotions out, and after a few minutes, the younger woman calmed down. 

“What are you going to do now?” Hope asked quietly, still holding Kelley.

“I don’t know,” the defender whispered. “They probably don’t feel the same way as me. And it doesn’t matter now, Alex is with Serv. And Tobin and Press are doing who knows what,” she explained, a touch of bitterness in her voice. “It just hurts,” she sighed. “It hurts, but I’ll get over it. Besides, I doubt they would even consider a relationship like that,” she finished quietly.

The keeper hugged the younger woman tighter. “What do you want to do?” she asked again.

Kelley sighed sadly. “I don’t know. Just try to get through the next couple of camps and get over these feelings?” she asked more than stated. “I mean, if anything, they’ll just think I’m trying to get over you,” she reasoned. “You won’t tell anyone about this, right?” she questioned hesitantly.

Hope shifted to make Kelley face her. Blue eyes stared seriously into hazel. “Kelley, I would  _ never _ tell anyone anything you told me in confidence, okay?” she explained. “And if you want, we can just pretend that the reason you’re acting differently is because I fucked up, and I’ll take the heat, okay? No one has to know the real reason,” she assured the younger woman.

“Hope, no, I can’t let the team hate you for something that was both of our faults,” Kelley argued.

Hope shook her head. “No, this was mostly on me. I led you on after the final, then I dumped you when we got back. That’s on me, and I can deal with the team, okay?”

“Fine,” the defender reluctantly agreed. 

Hope stood up, pulling Kelley into her. “If you need to talk about anything, I’m here,” she stated.

Kelley nodded, leaning into the hug. “Thanks, Hope,” she said gratefully.

* * *

 

_ 2013 - August _

_ Alex isn’t marrying Serv _ , Kelley thought to herself, reading the texts the forward had sent her.  _ Maybe there is a chance _ .

The defender shook her head, trying to push the thought from her mind.

_ No, there’s no way. She’s definitely in love with Tobin.  _

Kelley sighed, throwing her phone across her bed. She’d tried hard over the last year to get over how she felt about her best friends. But every time she thought she was finally past it, something happened that sent her right back to square one.

Like Alex getting engaged.

Or Tobin and Christen flirting with each other, and maybe going on a date or two.

And now this. Alex texting her saying she had called off her engagement.

And Kelley was sort of pissed, because who reveals that information through a fucking  _ text message _ . That’s something you wait until everyone is at the same location to reveal in person.

So yeah, the defender is a little mad. But considering Hope hasn’t called her to see if she’s heard, maybe she’s the first, the only person even, to know.

_ No, there’s absolutely no way Tobin doesn’t know _ , Kelley concluded.  _ The midfielder is probably the reason Alex called it off with Serv, she has to know already _ .

The defender considers calling Tobin to ask, but decides against it. If Tobin does know, Kelley doesn’t want to have to explain why she’s asking.

* * *

 

_ 2014 - February _

“Alex and I are together,” Tobin said at team dinner after a long training session. 

“I realized I wasn’t truly in love with Servando, and that’s why we called off the engagement. Tobin and I got together a few months after that,” the forward added.

“So how long has this been going on?”  __ Sydney asked.

“Since December,” the midfielder answered.

“We didn’t want to have to keep this from you guys, so we decided now would be the time to tell you,” Alex explained. “We wanted to be sure you guys were okay with this,” she finished, stealing nervous glances around the room.

“As long as you guys can keep it professional when it comes to being on the field, I don’t think we’ll have any problems,” Christie interjected.

As the team got up to hug and congratulate them, Kelley remained in her seat.

She wanted to be mad, she really did, but she couldn’t. The two looked so happy, she wasn’t going to let her own feelings get in the way of that. 

As she finally stood up to make her way up to the couple, Hope caught her eye and sent the defender a knowing sympathetic smile. Kelley returned the smile, nodding as if to say she was okay.

Because she would be. It might take some time, but she would be okay, starting with telling her best friends how happy she was for them.

* * *

 

_ 2015 - January _

Alex and Tobin showing up to Kelley’s apartment in Jersey was not something the defender was expecting. And yet, here they are. The three of them standing in the kitchen, a silence settled between them.

The forward sighed impatiently. “Okay, Tobin and I have have no idea how to explain this, so we’re just going to ask you outright, okay?” she started.

Kelley nodded warily. “Okay,” she said slowly.

“Okay,” Alex nodded. “Tobin and I want you,” she stated.

Kelley’s eye widened in shock. “What?”

“Alex and I, we’re happy together, but we don’t feel complete,” Tobin explained. “And, we think, well, we think it’s because we both like you,” she added, stuttering. 

“Look, we know this isn’t exactly normal, and we’d understand if you threw us out and never wanted to speak to us again,” the forward spoke nervously, “But, we couldn’t keep going like this without talking to you,” she finished lamely.

Kelley stood behind the counter silently, looking between the two, not knowing how to respond.

When the quiet began to stretch too long for their liking, Alex hesitantly asked, “Kelley? Are you going to say anything?”

Kelley shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered.

“Can’t what, Kel?” Tobin questioned, exchanging a nervous glance with her girlfriend. “You can’t talk to us?”

The defender shook her head, wiping away tears that were beginning to form. “I don’t know what to say,” she said, looking towards the ceiling. “God, I just, I can’t-” she cut herself off, taking a deep breath, “I’ve had feelings for the both of you,” she admitted quietly, not looking at either of the other two.

The couple stood shocked. “Like, feelings for us separately?” Alex asked.

“No,” Kelley replied. “Like for both of you, at the same time,” she explained. “I just can’t believe you guys would feel the same way,” she whispered.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Alex asked, walking to the other side of the counter to hug the defender.

“What the fuck was I supposed to say?” Kelley asked, more bitter than she meant. Sighing, she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. But how could I tell you guys?” She pulled back, looking between the two. “Alex, you went back to Serv when we got back from London, and Tobin, you were flirting and going on dates with Christen. What was I supposed to do?” she asked.

The other two sighed. “You’re right” Alex responded. “I’m sorry.”

“Christen and I decided we were better off as friends after a couple of months,” Tobin admitted. “I still liked Alex, I just didn’t realize I liked you, too,” she continued, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

“We’re willing to give this a shot if you are,” Alex said shyly.

Kelley nodded. “I want to,” she responded. “I want to try this, no matter how strange it may be,” she stated, sending the other two a smile.

Both Alex and Tobin let out sighs of relief. “We honestly thought you were going to yell at us and never want to speak to us again,” the midfielder confessed.

“I wouldn’t do that to you guys,” the defender said softly. “Even if I was weirded out by it, I’d get over it eventually. It’d just be a bit awkward between us for a bit,” she explained.

“So how does this work then?” Tobin asked. “Alex and I are together on the other side of the country while you’re here. Not to mention the World Cup is coming up,” she pointed out.

Kelley shrugged. “We just take it one day at a time, I guess,” she answered, looking between the other two.

“Okay, but what about the team? Do we tell them about this or keep it to just us for now?” Alex added.

“I say we keep it to ourselves until we figure out exactly what we’re doing,” Tobin reasoned.

Kelley nodded in agreement. “We’ll have to be really careful with our interactions, especially around Hope,” she added, thinking about the conversation she had with the keeper years before. “She’s extremely observant and she’ll notice something’s up quickly if we’re not careful,” she explained.

“So we’re doing this?” Alex asked, looking at the other two for confirmation.

Tobin nodded. “We’re doing this,” she confirmed. “Right, Kel?” She and Alex turned to look at the defender.

Kelley smiled widely, nodding. “We’re doing this.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment but don't rude please. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. 
> 
> I have also considered taking prompts through the comments section or making a tumblr for this account if anyone's interested. Let me know what you think.


End file.
